Renkin 3-kyū Magical? Pokān
is an anime series that tells the story of the everyday life of four princesses from the Makai who are oblivious to the happenings in everyday life in the human world. The name of the anime is often shortened to 'Magipoka. The opening sequence of the anime is deceptive to the viewer as it is not apparent that the anime's genre is comedy. Story There is no plot continuity to this anime, but the story depicts the misadventures of four princesses from the Netherworld: Uma the Witch, Pachira the Vampire, Liru the Werewolf, and Aiko the Android along with their invisible chaperone Keimie. These princess are adapting to life in the human world (though three episodes are loosely connected to each other) and reside in their Garakuta House (a makeshift treehouse complex with the name being a homage to the author of the same name) in Hikarigaoka (a fictional Japanese city that's not to be confused with Hikarigaoka Station). The girls are faced with small self-centered problems such as finding a boyfriend, blending in to society, learning about Earth's cultures, and staying one step ahead of scientist Super Doctor K-Ko. Characters * '''Uma (ゆうま Yūma),Her western name spelling according to the official website, which differs from "Yūma," the Hepburn romanization (phonetic) of her name in Japanese writing. : ::It is revealed that Uma is a witch although she is not yet adept at spell casting due to her being a "third rate alchemist." She has a happy personality and finds joy in exploring the human world. When she makes a discovery about the world, she quickly and proudly points it out to the other girls only to be generally the last to discover such things becoming disappointed when others learn faster than she does. Her overall design is recomniscent to a bunny-girl ranging from her hair style that occasionally moves, her pet rabbit-like creatures, and the carrot cushion that she sleeps with. Sometimes whenever Uma is casting a spell, her skirt occasionally lifts up revealing her panties. When she is not trying to master spells, Uma would occasionally read her romance mangas. * Pachira (パキラ Pakira) : ::Pachira is seen during the course of the anime as a vampire with two small bats riding on her hair ribbons. While she displays the common weakness of vampires such as a weakness to garlic and holy water, her biggest weakness (at least in her mind) is her small breast size which she hopes to have expanded whatever way possible. She has the ability to fly by sprouting wings, extends her pink fingernails into claws, and is seen eating regular food as well as having a vampire's lust for drinking blood (although she mainly drinks tomato juice). She turns to ash in sunlight, but it is not fatal as noted in the prologue of episode one. Pachira wears a long coat and cardboard box over her head whenever she goes out. When she goes to the beach, Pachira wears a heavy coat of sunscreen to prevent her from becoming ashes. Though Pachira wouldn't show up on any camera due to her not casting a reflection, she can be seen on a thermographic camera. * Liru (りる Riru) : ::It is explained to the audience that Liru is a werewolf with her wolf-like ears and tail exposed in her normal form. Liru has an energetic personality and has animal traits such as the ability to leap great distances with little effort, and has enhanced strength, speed, stamina, and senses. Like all werewolves, she is lycanthropic and her wolf form looks similar to a yellow puppy. Also, Liru dislikes silver. A minor recurring theme in the episodes is when Liru sees a full moon-shaped object, she immediately changes into her lycan form (though strangely enough she seems somewhat resilient to the real moon's effects). Being a werewolf, Liru enjoys eating any type of meat and her favorite type of meat is Matsuzaka Beef. * Aiko (鉄子) : ::Shown throughout the series is the fact that Aiko is an gynoid (though referred to in the anime as an android) with metal hands and metal boot-shaped feet, an outdated computer, and poor size memory. As the other three are based on storybook monsters, it's probable that Aiko is an updated version of Frankenstein's Monster. Her name is a pun; the word "aiko" is intended to sound like "love child", but the "ai" in her name is written with the kanji for "Iron" rather than "Love". She performs housekeeping duties for the other girls like cooking, shopping, and laundry because of her devoted mind. Her weight is 300 kg or more which causes problems since her weight tends to break things (examples being an elevator and a ski lift). Being an android, Aiko doesn't eat or drink which came in handy one time when two snow people served cold food that temporarily froze the other three princesses. She always hopes to get her own human-type body through whatever way possible. When at the beach, Aiko uses a wind-up submarine-type suit to go swimming. * Keimie (ケイミィ Keimī) : ::An invisible person that serves as the chaperone of the four princesses. Possibly, her invisibility may allude to the Invisible Man to keep up with the "movie monster" nature of the show. Though she does not appear very often except in a narrative part in episode one and the end of some episodes or heard saying something to the princesses in some episodes, her most notable scene involving an English Speaking game where she served a bad-tasting Natto drink to the princess that messes up by speaking Japanese with her also drinking Natto when Aiko messed up. In "The Spell of Ifs is Dr. ○×△□," she was dressed as a nurse with bandages to cover her invisible body when the episode shows each princess as a doctor. * Jun (ジュン) and Tan (タン) :Jun :Tan ::Uma's pet rabbit-like creatures. Jun is a peach-colored rabbit-like creature and Tan is a black rabbit-like creature. They can spin his ears around like a helicopter propeller to fly, use the end of their ears as hands, and occasionally float around. Tan can also change into Uma's hat when Uma is occasionally seen in her black cape. * : ::A semi-regular character who serves as the primary antagonist of the series. She is a busty scientist and an expert on the Netherworld that is constantly trying to get the 'scientific community' to see how bad the four princesses are....for her own status gain. Dr. K-Ko wants proof of the supernatural to gain admittance into the scientific elite and what better than one or all of the princesses either captured in her traps or exposed on TV....if her plans didn’t have a tendency to go awry. * : ::Doctor K-Ko's midget assistant. He assists Doctor K-Ko in her quest to expose the princesses as Netherworld monsters. Episodes Each of the episodes were split into two segments. The following episodes were exclusive to the DVDs. Staff * Original Story: Garakuta House * Director: Kenichi Yatagai * Composition, Script: Yasunori Ide * Character Design, General Production Director: Katsuzō Hirata * Prop Design: Yoshihiro Watanabe * Art Design: Naomi Igata (KUSANAGI) * Art Director: Ayū Kawamoto (KUSANAGI) * Color Design: Yukiharu Obata * Photography Directors: Junichi Watanabe, Tsugio Ozawa * Editor: Masahiro Matsumura * Sound Effects Director: Hiroyuki Matsuoka * Sound Effects Production: Half HP Studio * Music: Noriyasu Agematsu * Music Production: Lantis * Production: GENCO * Animation Production: REMIC * Production Assistance: Studio Gash * Produced by Magipoka-dan Theme songs ;Opening theme: , sung by Yōsei Teikoku (band, meaning 'Fairy Empire') ;Ending theme: , lyrics by Yasunori Ide, composed by Hiroki, sung by various voice actresses from the show: : CDs Lantis has released three CD albums: * LACA-5529, ¥2500, June 21, 2006 * LACA-5517, ¥1800, May 24, 2006 * LACM-4257, ¥1200, April 26, 2006 (maxi-single) References External links * * Category:Anime of 2006 Category:Comedy anime and manga Category:Dengeki Comics Category:Dengeki Daioh Category:Lantis Category:Magical girl anime and manga Category:Shapeshifting in fiction Category:Werewolves in film and television de:Renkin 3-kyū: Magical? Pokān fr:Renkin 3-kyū Magical ? Pokān ja:錬金3級 まじかる?ぽか〜ん zh:鍊金三級魔法少女